Neurotheology is a fast-growing field of research. Combining philosophy of mind, neuroscience, and religious studies, it takes a new approach to old questions on religion. What is religion and why do we have it? Neurotheologists focus on the search for the neural correlate of religious experiences. If we can trace religious experiences to specific parts of the brain, chances are we can reduce...
Recent contributions to the theoretical conception and empirical evaluation of schizophrenia in the light of phenomenology are opening the way to new perspectives in psychotherapy. The phenomenological conception understands schizophrenia as a disturbance of the basic sense of selfhood (ipseity) characterized by hyper-reflexivity and diminished sense of self. Evaluation consists of examining...
Stafford, Barbara Maria. Echo Objects: The Cognitive Work of Images. University of Chicago Press, 2007, xiii + 281 pp., 14 color illus. + 93 b&w illus., $45.00 cloth, $30.00 paper. Echo Objects is a visionary, masterful project that delivers on the promise of robust interdisciplinary work. Motivated by recent findings and speculations in neuroscience and the philosophy of mind, Barbara...
The aim of this chapter is to present the state of the art of the philosophical debates about pain and demonstrate its importance in the current Philosophy of Mind; my contention is that it is an important point of convergence between the research done in cognitive sciences and philosophical thought. The central point of discussion is whether pain is a form of perception, in the sense that it...
In response to clinical observations and research findings that individuals with Generalized Anxiety Disorder are reactive to their internal experiences, avoid and suppress painful emotions, thoughts, and sensations, and limit their involvement in meaningful activities, an Acceptance Based Behavioral Therapy (ABBT) was developed to specifically target these responses. ABBT incorporates...
I contemplate the idea that the subjective world and quantum state reductions are one and the same. If true, this resolves with one stroke both the quantum mechanical measurement problem and the hard problem of consciousness.
Most research on the impact of mind-body training does not ask about participants' baseline experience, expectations, or preferences for training. To better plan participant-centered mind-body intervention trials for nurses to reduce occupational stress, such descriptive information would be valuable. We conducted an anonymous email survey between April and June, 2010 of North American nurses...
The pursuit of poetry and the new science of the mind were inseparable strands of the seminal work of the late nineteenth-century poet, psychological and psychical researcher Frederic W. H. Myers. An early passion for classical prosody translated in later life into a complex, nuanced poetry devoted to the performative externalization of intense psychological experiences of various kinds. Myers...
The triadic structure of human knowing is introduced with reference to its historical roots, particularly as captured in Neo-Platonist philosophy. The hierarchical conception of the triadic structure of knowing and the significance of movements of development and regression within that hierarchy are explained. The comprehensive levels of the triadic formwork of human knowing are expounded and...
The consensus in contemporary philosophy of mind is that how a perceptual experience represents the world to be is built into its sensory phenomenology. I defend an opposing view which I call ‘moderate separatism’, that an experience's sensory phenomenology does not determine how it represents the world to be. I argue for moderate separatism by pointing to two ordinary experiences which...